SEPTEMBER 26, 2013

Support for Ferrari's 2014 lineup

Alain Prost, David Coulthard and even Bernie Ecclestone have played down suggestions Ferrari's 2014 driver lineup will blow up in the Italian giant's face.

Many raised their eyebrows at the Maranello based team's decision to pair the fiery Latin 'number 1' Fernando Alonso with the cool but often controversial Finn Kimi Raikkonen, who was Ferrari's last world champion in 2007.

An all-star lineup like that blew up spectacularly at McLaren in the late 90s, when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost went to war as teammates.

"Everybody thinks about the reality between me and Senna but it has also worked well," Frenchman Prost, comparing the legendary McLaren pairing with the prospect of Alonso-Raikkonen, is quoted by the Mirror.

"It worked very well for the team, we really put the team on top. It is going to be more difficult but it can work," he insisted.

David Coulthard, the former McLaren and Red Bull driver, agrees that Ferrari's decision is not as crazy as some assume.

"It does make sense," he told the German newsmagazine Focus.

"Ferrari had a lot of patience for Felipe Massa but the management also knows it needs the strongest possible driver pair to finally compete again for the titles."

But the fiery Alonso and the impolite Raikkonen? Could that really work?